Investment Plan - Make Your Money Grow!

An investment plan is the other key component of your million dollar plan. Savings being the rocket fuel, investments provide the boosters that get you to there fast. The key for your plan is to find investments that really suit you: they have to be something that you can make and manage, in your specific situation, and with your skills, capabilities, and resources.

The first step in preparing your investment plan is to decide what kind of investments you intend to make. Are you just going to let the money grow interest on bank account, or will you invest some of it in stocks or bonds, or will you maybe start a business? When deciding on this, you will need to consider how much risk you are prepared to take, as well as the level of effort you want to put into your investments. As often, higher risks, when properly managed, can yield much higher profits. Similarly, the more effort you put into your investments, the higher potential they tend to have for rewards. Whatever you invest in, though, make sure you understand your investments well - you really want to be an investor, not a gambler.

Making an an investment plan can be very complicated, but luckily you can start with a simple one. Just list the investments you can start making right away, and then list others that you want to consider later, whether soon or year from now. For each kind of investment, make a realistic estimate for the amounts you will invest, the frequency of these investments, and the yield or interest that you can expect from it. Also, note down the minimum time span for each investment, whether it's weeks, months, or maybe a number of years.

When you have a high level plan in place, start working on the components of the plan. This will bring your very near the start of the actual practical implementation of the plan, especially for the least risky and lowest effort part of you plan. If the first component of your investment plan is, say, putting away $200 a month to a high-yield savings account, you can start doing from your next paycheck as soon as you've decided on this.

Some other components of your investment plan may take much more planning and detail before you can really start to implement them. Typically, the higher the risk and the level of effort required, the more planning and preparation you will need before you can starting the implementation phase. Especially, if you intend to invest into a business - whether buying stocks or a company, or setting up a business by yourself - you will need a separate full plan for that alone, and probably some bit of time and further learning before you can start doing it. No matter what kind of investments you decide to start making, it's important for you to find a way and pace to do it so that you will maintain your excitement and interest in doing it. After all, you are making a life-time commitment here, so whatever it is that you intend to be investing in, please make sure you find a way to do it so that you can and want to keep doing it.

Luckily, when you are making your plan, it doesn't need to be - and won't be in any case - carved in stone. You will learn more when you start implementing it, and you will notice what works and what doesn't. You will also quick realize that some things suit you better than others. Based on all these, make sure to modify your plan, so that it will become even more realistic and sustainable, given your own situation and circumstances.

As you now have your investment plan in place, just get busy with implementing it - unless you already did so. Through this you will start gathering more and more speed on your journey to your first million. And while you are at it, don't forget to enjoy what you are doing - the journey itself can be at least as much fun as arriving there!